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Council rejects McDonald's foreshore proposal

Jane Lee

FRANKSTON Council has unanimously rejected fast-food chain McDonald's plans to build a 24-hour restaurant opposite the foreshore in Seaford after hundreds of locals campaigned against it.

McDonald's lodged its application with the council late last year, which was met with widespread objection from locals, who argued it was "inappropriate" for the site, which is about 100 metres from the beach.

The council has received a number of petitions against McDonald's proposal bearing more than 201 signatures and more than 400 individual objections.

Frankston Mayor Sandra Mayer confirmed that the application was rejected at a council meeting on Monday night, largely because the proposed site was at a busy intersection on Nepean Highway.

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"There has been a number of accidents there already and it's quite unsafe to be coming and out of the site with all that traffic coming through," Mayor Mayer said.

VicRoads had also objected to the application saying there was a high rate of accidents involving pedestrians and cyclists at the site, which is on the corner of Nepean Highway and Seaford Road. Frankston Police had also raised traffic safety concerns.

Mayor Mayer said the plan was also rejected because of the potential environmental impact the McDonald's outlet would have had on neighbouring residents, the beach and a nearby creek.

"You would have had rubbish everywhere on the foreshore because McDonald's wrappers end up kilometres down the road from every store," she said.

"We had residents bringing in (to council) photos and bags of rubbish, McDonald's wrappers they'd picked up on the road. Can you imagine having the smoke billowing out from the kitchen (and) everything that comes with a restaurant?"' she said.

Mayor Mayer said Frankston had "enough" takeaway outlets and did not need any more.

The council's decision was met with a standing ovation from about 150 residents who attended the meeting in objection to the application, she said.

McDonald's now has 60 days to appeal the decision to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

The move follows a community protest against McDonald's entering Tecoma, which planted hundreds of angry gnomes outside the fast food giant's Victorian state headquarters in Collingwood on Monday.